


Claustrophobia

by RockerChick06



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Horror, Lust, M/M, Suspense, Thriller, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-10-28 13:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20779265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockerChick06/pseuds/RockerChick06
Summary: Richie Tozier has a fear of closets, both physical and metaphorical. Three months after The Losers Club defeats IT and everyone parts ways once again, Richie Tozier's fear comes back to haunt him and this time, it doesn't come with Pennywise in tow. Richie is determined to rid himself and his life of this fear but he won't be able to do it alone...





	1. Constricted

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! Okay so, I know I literally just posted a Reddie one-shot but my fingers have been itching to write a multi chapter Reddie fic, so here I am again. This idea was entirely my own, so I really hope you guys enjoy it. Alright, on with the story! :)

** ** ** _ <strike></strike> _ _ <strike></strike> _ <strike></strike> __ __ ** ***Three Months After IT's Demise***

It was dark. Really dark. He had no idea where he was and all he could hear was the sound of his own heavy breathing coming down upon his ears. All of a sudden, he hears a sound from behind him and his body shoots up into the air in response. He turns around slowly to be faced with three closets now in front of him. All three doors are cracked, damaged and are labeled "Not Scary", "Scary" and "Very Scary". Of course this takes him back, this takes him back to just three short months ago. Three months ago was not something he wanted to think about after finally getting out of Derry, leaving for the final time, never looking back but also never forgetting the previous events that had happened there. They had killed IT, together. IT was dead. So, he wondered why these images were once again clouding his mind. The clown obviously wasn't responsible this time. So, why was this happening? Seeping further into his nightmare, he moved towards the three doors, inspecting them closely before placing his hand on the knob of the door labeled "Not Scary". Just as he was about to open the door, he was jolted awake, brought forth from his nightmare into reality. He could hear himself breathing heavily, only this time, he really was. He then realized his phone was ringing and turned over facing his nightstand to answer it. The caller I.D stated that Eddie Kaspbrak was calling and Richie Tozier couldn't be more excited about that. He finally answered his phone.

"Hello." Richie said.

"Hi Richie, it's me Eddie." He replied.

Richie smiled brightly. 

"Hey Eddie, what's going on?" Richie asked excitingly. 

"Oh, well I just- I was gonna wait to tell you this, to surprise you but, I'm in L.A. I thought that maybe we could meet up and talk, you know, catch up. What do you think?" Eddie asked, seeming to match Richie's excitement. 

Richie grinned like an idiot, glad in the back of his mind that Eddie couldn't see him right now because if he could, Richie would be beyond embarrassed at this point considering how he's reacting during a simple phone call. 

"Oh, yeah sure. Definitely!" Richie said, feeling like he sounded a little too excited and facepalming himself for it. 

"Cool so, my hotel actually isn't far from where you live. How about I come meet you at your place and then we can go somewhere, how does that sound?" Eddie asked.

Richie exhaled strongly.

"That sounds amazing." Richie replied, almost wanting to cry with excitement. 

He really didn't think he'd be able to see any of the losers again this soon and it being Eddie made it even better for Richie. 

Richie got out of bed pumped, beyond ready to see Eddie again. Richie's mood and thoughts had gone from negative to positive in a snap. Richie found that Eddie could always do that for him and he absolutely loved it. 


	2. Cracking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Richie sees Eddie again, Eddie can tell that there's a lot going on with him and he wants to know what, he wants to help. However, as much as Richie appreciates that, he's afraid it might do more harm than good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Reddie lovers! It's me again. I know it has taken me ages to write and release this part but here I am. I'm writing this in the morning which I usually never do, so excuse me if it's messy. Enjoy! :)

Today was the day that Richie was going to see Eddie again and he was so nervous that the man he loves was actually going to be with him once again. He shivers as thoughts of Eddie swarm his mind as he fixes himself up before Eddie arrives. Richie gives himself one final once over in the mirror, throws up finger guns and winks at himself right as his doorbell rings. 

"Oh god, that's Eddie. Okay, here we go." Richie whispers to himself, exhaling strongly and rushing over to the door to open it. When he does, he is met with Eddie's stunning smile, the smile he'd always loved and a hello.

"Hey." Richie responds. "You wanna come in?" He asks.

"That would be nice." Eddie says, giggling.

Richie motions for him to come in, closing the door and following close behind him as he does.

"You can sit if you want." Richie told him, still shivering with nervousness.

"Cool." Eddie says, exhaling slowly as he sits. He looks up at Richie and smiles again. Richie's knees almost go weak, he can't help himself around Eddie. He never could. 

"Richie!" Eddie yells.

"What!?" Richie snaps, giving Eddie an angry look for yelling at him. 

"Did you even hear me, I was asking if you're okay? You look, not well." Eddie responds.

"Oh sorry. No, I didn't hear you but I'm fine." Richie said, swallowing hard, pretty sure Eddie would notice that too. He always notices everything and that's definitely one downside when Richie is trying to hide his deepest feelings for his friend. 

"Are you sure?" Eddie asks again, concern clear in his eyes and voice.

Richie rolls his eyes and sits down next to Eddie, putting his arm around him.

"You worry too much, Eddie Spaghetti." Richie grins. 

Eddie rolls his eyes and scoffs, gently pushing Richie to the side. 

"I told you not to call me that Rich." Eddie says, clearly annoyed.

"Oh come on Eds, I'm just having fun." Richie replies, grinning even wider this time. He always loved fucking with Eddie. 

"Don't call me Eds either." Eddie says in a monotone, at this point pretty much done telling Richie not to use nicknames, he never listened anyway, clearly. 

"Wow, twenty plus years and you still won't listen to me." Eddie says, pouting and looking away from Richie. 

Richie realizes now that it isn't the nicknames but how Eddie didn't like not being listened to. He had gotten enough of that from his mother when she was still around, he didn't need it anymore, especially not from someone he considered a friend. 

Richie sighs and gently grabs Eddie's face, turning it towards him. 

"Eddie..." Richie whispers. 

"Stop." Eddie slaps Richie's hand off his face. Richie places it right back in the same exact spot, not willing to give up just yet. 

"No, I won't stop. I upset you, I realize that now. I'm sorry Eddie." Richie says in the most sincere tone of voice. 

"It's fine." Eddie replies, flatly.

Richie smirks and leans forward, kissing Eddie on the cheek. Eddie blushes hard.

"Eddie, you're redder than your mom's-" Richie starts to say before getting cut off. 

"Do not go there!" Eddie yells, hitting Richie's arm.

"Ow, a little rough Eddiekins! What, do you like it rough or something? How come you never told me?" Richie exclaims, grinning like an absolute idiot. 

"Shut up you asshole." Eddie says annoyed, rolling his eyes. 

They start laughing so hard that they almost tip over onto the floor. When all of a sudden, Richie stops, staring at Eddie. Eddie follows, concerned about Richie. 

Richie reaches over and puts his hand on top of Eddie's.

"Eddie..." Richie whispers.

"What's wrong?" Eddie asks, genuinely concerned for his friend. 

"I need to tell you, some things..." Richie replies.

"Alright, what is it?" Eddie replies, holding Richie's hand tighter. 

"I've been having nightmares... That damn clown." Richie says, turning pale and shivering wildly.

"What? Richie, we killed It, remember? Those are just nightmares, nothing more. It's gone, I swear." Eddie says softly, trying his best to comfort Richie.

"I-I know but... the- the- the- the doors, the closet..." Richie stammers. 

"You sound like Bill right now." Eddie giggles. 

Richie gets angry and snaps.

"You think this is fucking funny Eddie!? Well, it's not! I'm scared out of my fucking mind and you want to sit here and laugh in my face! I don't need this!" Richie yells and starts to walk away. Eddie quickly grabs his wrist and pulls him back onto the couch.

"I'm sorry baby. Here, you can lean on me if you want." Eddie says sweetly, as Richie lays his head down on Eddie's shoulder and exhales, trying his best to calm down. 

"Now, talk to me. What's this about closets?" Eddie asks. 

Richie starts to cry and Eddie can hear it. He starts shushing him and petting his hair softly. 

"Eddie... I can't do this anymore. The truth is I've been in the closet since we were kids and my nightmares are taunting me about it." Richie replies through his stream of tears. Eddie's eyes widen hearing this. 

"You're... gay?" Eddie asks. 

"Yes, do you have a problem with it too?" Richie asks, clearly stressed out. 

"No, of course not. Why would I have a problem with it? You know I love you Rich, no matter what." Eddie says. 

Richie smiles lightly.

"You're the best." He says, snuggling in closer to Eddie.

"Yes... I am." Eddie replies. 

"Asshole." Richie says, laughing. 

Richie leans up and looks Eddie in the eyes. 

"Are you going to be okay?" Eddie asks. 

Richie wiped away the last of his tears.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Richie replies.

"Good." Eddie says, smiling warmly at Richie.

"Well, I should probably let you get some rest now. You've had quite the day." Eddie says. 

Richie looks down, pouting.

"Oh..." Richie replies.

"What? Do you not want me to go?" Eddie asks. 

"No, it's fine." Richie says, clearly disappointed. 

"Richie, don't lie to me. I'll stay if you want me to." Eddie says. 

"No, I've taken up enough of your time. If I ask you to stay then I'm really being a bother." Richie says. 

Eddie rolls his eyes, scoffing.

"Really Tozier? You need to stop, like now. That's it, I'm staying." Eddie says, confidently. 

"Oh, you are?" Richie asks, his tone snappy. 

"Yep, and there's nothing you can do about it." Eddie replies, grinning. 

"Fine, you can sleep here. I'm going to bed." Richie says, giving up his act of not wanting Eddie around all night. 

"Richie." Eddie calls out.

"Yeah?" Richie replies, turning back to face Eddie once again.

"I'll miss you." He says, smirking.

Richie rolls his eyes and shakes his head. 

"Shut the fuck up Eddie." Richie replies, clearly annoyed. 

Richie then disappears into his bedroom and Eddie gets comfortable on the couch. 

Halfway through the night, Eddie hears intensely loud screaming that awakens him in a matter of seconds. At first, he thought he had been dreaming but then he heard it again, loud and clear. The screaming was coming from Richie's room. Eddie popped up off the couch and ran straight into Richie's room. There, he sees Richie's flailing and screaming at the top of his lungs. His eyes are closed and it's clear to Eddie that this is one of the nightmares Richie had described to him earlier. Eddie ran over to Richie's bedside. 

Eddie begins tapping and shaking Richie, trying his best to wake him up. 

"Richie, Richie!" Eddie yells. 

Finally, Richie snaps out of it and wakes up.

"Hey, you scared the shit out of me, you know that?" Eddie says.

"Eddie?" Richie says, looking mystified.

"Yeah, who else would it be?" Eddie giggles quietly. 

"I don't know, the fucking clown maybe." Richie huffs. 

Eddie grabs Richie's hand. 

"Richie... It's gone." Eddie reminds him. 

"I know. I'm just terrified." Richie replies, starting to cry again.

"No no no." Eddie says, shushing him. Eddie pulls him in close and holds him. 

"Eddie." Richie starts bawling and reaches both his arms around Eddie, pulling him towards the bed. 

"You want me to stay here with you?" Eddie asks. 

"Yes, please." Richie replies.

Eddie nods and climbs into Richie's bed, in the space next to him. Richie leans into Eddie further as they lay down together and cover up. 

"Don't ever leave me again." Richie says, continuing to cry. 

"I swear I won't." Eddie replies. 

He swore and he meant every single word. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit cried while writing this, just sayin'. The power of Reddie is strong AF, apparently. Lmao! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I just want to say before I split for today that this story may be updated very slowly depending on what my days and nights are like. Whenever I find enough time to write another chapter, I'll definitely be doing so. I'm sorry this one took literally forever but I hope it was well worth it. Love you guys! :)


	3. Close

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie and Eddie sit down with each other, talk about their current relationship and where it could possibly go in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, it's me again! I'm back with another chapter, finally. I know this story is taking me a while to write but I don't really want it to end quickly because I love this ship so much, so I decided I'd take my time writing it. Anyways, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Now, on to the story! :)

The next morning Richie awakes in his bed with his arms tightly wrapped around Eddie. For some reason, he can barely remember any of what happened last night. Richie's alarm sounds and he untangles himself from Eddie, reaching to switch it off. Just then, Eddie hums and turns a little, awakening himself. 

"Hi." Eddie says, smiling widely at Richie with shimmer in his eyes.

"Hey." Richie says, looking down at him and smiling back. 

"How are you?" Eddie asks, the tone of serious concern in his voice.

Richie scrunches his eyebrows at Eddie before replying. "I'm fine Eddie. Why wouldn't I be?" Richie asks.

Eddie eyes move back and forth before he answers Richie. "Umm, last night. You freaked out and asked me to sleep in here with you? Don't you remember?" Eddie asks. 

"No... I don't. Why'd I freak out?" Richie asks, genuinely worried that somehow Pennywise was fucking with him again, considering the fact that he can't seem to remember anything from the previous night.

Eddie inhales heavily and gently shakes his head.

"Well, I was on the couch about to fall asleep and you were in here. After I had just fallen asleep, I was woken up by you screaming your lungs out, so I ran in here to check on you and you started telling me about how you've been having these nightmares ever since we killed the clown and how they were about you being in the closet. You said you were terrified, you were crying and you pulled me into bed with you, so I stayed, all night." Eddie replies, trying his hardest to hold back tears. He never liked it when Richie was feeling anything negative. This was hard for him. To see Richie so hurt and feeling so hopeless. He just wanted to make it better. 

"Oh. I see." Richie replies.

"I didn't make it awkward for you, did I? I mean, sleeping in the same bed with me... that wasn't weird for you at all?" Richie asks.

Eddie looks up at him with a look of adoration clear on his face and in his eyes. His beautiful eyes that Richie couldn't help but love. It wasn't just his eyes, Richie couldn't help but love Eddie as a person. He was just so perfect to him. 

"We shared the hammock, when we were kids. Don't you remember that?" Eddie replies, raising his eyebrows and smiling sweetly at Richie. 

"Yeah, I mean, how could I forget? But I mean, we're adults now and after what I told you about me, I just feel like me forcing you to stay close to me last night has just made things super awkward between us." Richie says, clear concern present in his voice.

Eddie aggressively shakes his head.

"Okay, first of all, I'm totally okay with you being gay Richie. Secondly, you did not force me to stay close to you last night. You needed me and I made sure I was there. I wanna make sure I'm always here for you Richie." Eddie replies. 

Richie, now on the verge of tears, tries his best to say something, even though Eddie's words have rendered him completely speechless. Eddie brings his finger up to Richie's mouth. "You don't have to say anything." Eddie says. Hearing that, Richie closes his mouth. 

Richie, still slightly unsure of himself, decides to ask Eddie another question. 

"Sooo... you sure things aren't weird now?" Richie asks. 

Eddie huffs out a quiet laugh and shakes his head. 

"Things are fine. Actually, they're better than fine. I like being close to you." Eddie whispers, gently messing around with the collar of Richie's pajama shirt. 

Richie looks away and his eyes widen as he realizes what Eddie has just said and catches wind of the change in the room that is pretty much instant. 

As he looks back into Eddie's eyes, Richie places his hand on top of Eddie's. 

"Edd-" Richie begins to say but is cut off by Eddie's soft lips gently colliding with his. After a few seconds, Eddie backs away. 

Richie looks down and then straight into Eddie's eyes. 

"Why'd you do that?" Richie asks, genuinely curious. 

Eddie exhales and then responds to Richie's question.

"I wanted to. I really, really wanted to." Eddie replies, grinning like an idiot. 

Richie aggressively shakes his head, unbelieving of the situation. 

"Don't tease me." Richie says intensely. 

Eddie raises his eyebrows and giggles, looking into Richie's eyes.

"Nah, not yet. That comes later." Eddie replies seductively, shooting Richie a wink that would've made his knees go weak had he been standing. 

"Eddie, where is this coming from? What does this mean?" Richie asks. 

Eddie rolls his eyes.

"It's coming from here." Eddie says, gesturing to his heart.

"It means... that I want to be yours, forever." Eddie says. 

Richie blinks several times and tries to quite literally shake off his shock by shimmying around on the bed. 

Eddie laughs out loud. 

"Richie! What the fuck are you doing?" Eddie asks through his laugh attack. 

"Trying to make sure I'm not fucking dreaming. I can't believe this. This can't be real." Richie replies. 

Eddie gently grabs the side of Richie's face, stopping him from moving around. "It's real." Eddie replies, slowly leaning in to kiss Richie on the lips again. They pull apart extremely slowly, clearly not wanting to but needing to speak to each other.

"So, how do you feel about like, I don't know, being my boyfriend?" Eddie asks, a strong look of hope shining in his eyes.

"I feel great about it." Richie replies, grinning like an idiot and leaning in to kiss his new boyfriend on the lips once more. 

Richie and Eddie made out throughout the rest of the day. They just couldn't keep their lips off of each other. Not only did they love each other but they loved their new relationship. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright my loves, that's it for now! Be sure to leave kudos and comments if you like! Maybe some Reddie smut next chapter... huh? ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, that's the first chapter! I really hope you guys like it. Please be sure to leave kudos and comment your thoughts and/or feedback on the story! Until next chapter! Love you guys! <3


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